Sunday, January 11, 2009

So a little while back, my beautiful old pal Deb over at Dirty Socks and Pizza had been tagged to take an impromptu picture of herself and then tag ten people to do the same. Only, in true Deb fashion, she changed the rules and tagged ME to post simply post 10 pictures of myself. But in tribute to you, my dear friend, I will be changing the rules again. Eat it. ;-)

Then, another hot mommy blogger Tena at My Therapy tagged me from a post of hers to say one nice thing to a male in my life, and name six ways I measure success in my life. (By the way, I wrote a guest post for Tena last year and NOBODY knew it was me...although many thought it was Blonde Cheryl..I was deeply flattered...)

So I rolled out of bed this morning and went down to the beach, much the same as I do every day. I asked a young lady to take my picture, and here it is...sorry for the quality of the picture, she was drooling and breathing quite heavily.

Then, with Tena's request in mind, I found my son and told him, "I will love you no matter what. Well...unless you turn out like your Daddy."

How do I measure success in my life? I will call this life a success if someone is better because they knew me. I call my blog a success if someone writes that what I said moved them, or made them laugh so hard they peed. Literally. I will call my marriage a success if my wife still wants to be with me after all I put her through. I will call this year a success if my Mom doesn't lose the sparkle in her eyes. I will call my career a success if I manage to keep my career despite all factors working against us. And if I make it through a day of Daddy Duty like today, I will call it a win if my kids tell me they love me at bedtime. And if they don't, I won't stop tickling them until they do.

And who the heck is that guy in the photo? Gordon Ramsey? I know from your little photo at the top you look more like Elvis Costello. (At least in that photo you do.) And that is a compliment by the way. Not sure how you would feel about that.

And I was toying with the idea of giving you the Honest Scrap award later this week (which I just got) because you are one of the most honest bloggers I've come across but I know you don't like that stuff so I guess I'll just let you know I thought of you but won't put you through the torture.

To laugh often and love much; to win the respect of intelligent persons and the affection of children; to earn the approbation of honest citizens and endure the betrayal of false friends; to appreciate beauty; to find the best in others; to give of one's self; to leave the world a bit better, whether by a healthy child, a garden patch or a redeemed social condition; to have played and laughed with enthusiasm and sung with exultation; to know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived - this is to have succeeded.- Emerson